Our Positions
NASFAA maintains a commitment to advocate for public policies and programs that increase student access to and success in postsecondary education. Most often, NASFAA advocates in two separate arenas: in the context of reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) and in the budget and appropriations process. Our advocacy efforts center around six major policy areas.
The last comprehensive reauthorization of the HEA occurred in 2008, and the law has been overdue for another reauthorization for nearly a decade. Since NASFAA began working on reauthorization in 2012, changes to higher education delivery and instruction, along with piecemeal modifications to the student aid programs through other laws, regulation, and executive action, have required a continual review of our initial recommendations.
Removing Barriers and Expanding Opportunity: An Overview of NASFAA's Higher Education Act Reauthorization Priorities
In October 2026, NASFAA published the most recent update to its recommendations to modernize the HEA to meet the needs of today's students and institutions. These refreshed recommendations reflect the ever-changing postsecondary landscape. This document provides an overview of NASFAA's top HEA policy priorities.
- For a complete list of NASFAA's HEA recommendations, visit Compiled Higher Education Act Recommendations (October 2026).
- For a list of recommendations accomplished since a NASFAA working group last refreshed its HEA priorities in 2019, visit Accomplished Recommendations (October 2026).
Use the links below to jump directly to specific recommendations.
- Higher Education Act Reauthorization Positions
- Strengthening Need-Based Aid
- Improving and Simplifying the Federal Financial Aid Need Analysis and Application Process
- Promoting Opportunity and Innovation in Education
- Curbing Excessive Student Indebtedness
- Reforming Student Loan Repayment
- Improving Information for Students and Families
- Enhancing Student Aid Delivery and Innovation
- Federal Budget and Appropriations Positions
